


They What?!

by thagrrrl79



Series: Stranger Than Fiction [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 19:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2079909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thagrrrl79/pseuds/thagrrrl79
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU Tired of trying to convince the Doctor she's not hiding anything, Kari bites the bullet and introduces him to fan fiction. Short follow-up to "Incomplete."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in response to one of my readers wondering what it would be like if Kari introduced the Doctor to fan fiction.

Not for the first time in the last couple of days, Kari was hit with a wave of frustrated indignation, causing her to roll her eyes and close her book. She looked up as the Doctor stalked into the library, stopping just in front of her.

“Did you know?”

She frowned. “What?”

He abruptly sat down on the end of the couch near her and leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

“Did you know Rose was going to change when you started traveling with us?”

“For the millionth time, no. Why do you keep asking me that?”

He tapped a long finger roughly against her forehead, causing her to flinch back.

“You know way more than you should. Why wouldn’t you know this would happen?”

She sighed. “Doctor, I told you that this didn’t happen in my time.”

He got up and started pacing, running his hands through his hair.

“But you knew _something_ ; Rose said you mentioned Game Station after she got burned by the console.” He spun on his heel and stormed back up to her. “Why would you mention that?” He knelt down and stared into her eyes with dark, accusatory ones. “What aren’t you telling me, Kari Maxwell?”

She leaned back as far as she could in her chair, trying to get away from his gaze, and tensed with anger.

“Do you seriously think I’m hiding something from you? Why would I start that now?”

A muscle twitched in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

Sighing, she tried to push him out of her personal space, but only succeeded in rocking him back slightly as he caught himself on the arms of the chair. Her eyes narrowed.

“Let me up. I refuse to be pinned to this chair if we’re going to continue this nonsense.”

Reluctantly, the Doctor stood up and back, allowing her to stand. She gave him a tight smile as she struggled to get up, her leg still impeded by a brace.

“Thanks so much for the help.”

He continued to glare as she paced in front of the fireplace. Rubbing her temples, she tried to wade through the anger, frustration, and accusation streaming from him to her and her own annoyance with him. Hoping he’d take a hint and tamp it down a bit, she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed as much of her anger toward him, smirking when he hissed in pain and surprise.

“What the hell was that?”

“That was me showing you just how absurd you are being! I have no reason to hide anything from you, especially when it comes to Rose. I have told you, repeatedly, that it was a hunch.”

“A hunch? A hunch?! What the hell does that even mean?”

“It means that I looked at what had happened in Rose’s past, combined it with what I presently saw happening to her, and got a decent idea of what that could mean. I’m sorry if you were too damn blind to even consider that you couldn’t just pull the Time Vortex out of her and there be no after effects.”

She stood her ground as he stepped into her, teeth bared, nostrils flared as heavy breaths puffed out.

“How dare you suggest that I’m blind to what’s happening to Rose,” he growled, clearly hoping to make her cower. It didn’t work. It rarely did.

She took a step toward him and matched his gaze, her voice dropping low.

“Then how else do you explain you not even noticing she’d changed? Or is this like everyone but you acknowledging how you feel about her? A fucking Dalek knew you loved her long before you were even able to admit it to yourself.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Kari cocked her head to the side. “Did she ever tell you what the werewolf said to her when she was still locked up by it?”

The Doctor blinked, caught slightly off-guard by the seemingly unrelated question. “Yes, that he wanted to bite the queen and create the ‘Empire of the Wolf.’ So what?”

“She didn’t tell you what he saw in her? That she had a bit of the wolf in her and that she shone bright as the sun.”

He took a couple steps back, frowning. “What?”

She stalked toward him, causing him to back up. “He saw the Bad Wolf in her; saw her glowing with the Time Vortex. She blew it off; forgot about it in the excitement of running from a werewolf. Didn’t even think of it again until after she regenerated. Why should she? You’d told her everything was okay; that she was safe. And she seems to be, for the most part.” She stopped a few paces from him, his back against a bookcase. “Now imagine if you had actually paid attention and considered what it actually meant for her to absorb the Vortex for as long as she did. You had it in you for barely a minute and you had to regenerate. She was able to fly the TARDIS through the Vortex almost two hundred thousand years into the future and decimate the Daleks before it started to burn her. How could you _not_ think that would affect her in some way?”

He put his hands up in surrender, his voice quiet and calming. “Okay, you’re right, I should’ve paid more attention. But that doesn’t change the fact that you were very quick to put the pieces together. How were you able to do that?”

Kari sighed and turned away. “I already told you, I was observant.”

“But that can’t be it. I mean, yeah, you’re observant and bloody clever, but to put together the events at Game Station with Rose’s transformation takes quite the leap.”

“Not when the idea’s already been planted in your head,” she mumbled, refusing to turn back around.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, anger and accusation dropping away, making room for curiosity. “Kari, is there something you haven’t told me?”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her shoulders slumping, her voice barely above a whisper when she spoke. “Yes.”

The Doctor slowly spun her around and took her by both shoulders. “Tell me.”

“You’ll think it’s stupid.”

He lifted her chin, making her look at him. “If it gives me any insight as to what is going on with Rose, I’ll think it’s brilliant.”

Sighing, she pulled out of his grasp and started pacing again. “Okay, know how I’ve told you there are several mediums in which your adventures are told?”

“Yes. Telly, books, comics, and audio stories. But you also said that this didn’t happen in any of them.”

“Right, but there’s another form where it has, in several different ways.”

He frowned. “What’re you talking about?”

Stopping, she turned to face him, a hot blush running up her neck. “I’m talking about fan fiction.”

“Fan what?”

“Fan fiction. Stories written by fans to fill in the gaps between shows or change the outcome of an adventure. There are literally hundreds of stories written by fans on this subject alone.”

“How much truth is there to this ‘fan fiction’?”

She shrugged. “No idea; I’m guessing very little beyond whatever they pulled from known stories. However, fans are observant, especially if they watch the same episodes over and over. Each time, they catch something new; something they hadn’t heard or seen the last ten or 20 times they watched the episode. Like what the wolf said to Rose. For fans, that was a giant neon sign that said ‘she’s changed’. So they started working out theories with the obvious starting point being Game Station.”

He deflated slightly before starting his own pacing. “So what you’re saying is that I’m the only one who didn’t know something was wrong?”

“I wouldn’t say something was ‘wrong,’ considering what the outcome is, but, yes, it would seem you were the last to know yet again.”

He shot her a quick glare, causing her to smile slightly, as he continued wearing a hole in the floor.

“Right, fine, point is that this is something I should’ve noticed happening and didn’t. Makes me wonder what else I’m missing.” He suddenly stopped and spun on the spot. “Show me.”

Kari startled and blinked. “Show you what?”

“Show me this fan fiction. I want to see what else they’ve noticed.”

Her eyes grew wide. “I…uh…I don’t think that’s a good idea, Doctor.”

“Why not? You said there’s not much truth to it beyond what they’ve gotten from the show or whatever. Can’t be that much foreknowledge.”

“Well, it’s not that, exactly, though there would be a bit of that. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

She sighed. “Nothing. Wait here. I’ll go get my laptop.”


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor paced impatiently in front of the fireplace. What was taking Kari so long to get a laptop? Sure, she was still moving a bit slow from her leg brace, but it shouldn’t take _this_ long.

His head snapped around toward the door as she entered.

“Finally!” He bounded over, reaching to take the laptop from her when she snatched it away, frowning.

“No. Sit. I’m driving, at least at first. If I let you do it, I’ll end up with some weird alien operating system. Again.”

He rolled his eyes as he flopped on the couch. “That happened once.”

She sat next to him. “Yes, and it took me a week to get it straightened out and it’s _still_ not right.” Leaning forward, she set the device on the table and opened it. “No, I think I’ll get you started, thank you very much.”

The Doctor became impatient again as she took her sweet time opening web sites and ticking boxes.

“Kari, I appreciate the help, but I think I can figure out how to search a few stories.”

“Hundreds,” she mumbled.

“What’s that?”

She tensed slightly, her jaw clenching, as she paused her clicking. He took note of her apprehension as she barely turned her head to talk to him.

“There are hundreds — possibly thousands — of stories to sort through. And that’s after I narrow it down to just you and Rose.”

“What?”

She sighed and went back to the main page and pointed at the screen. Sliding his glasses on, he leaned forward.

“What’s that?”

“That is the number of stories on this site alone that you — _this_ you — are in.”

“Blimey.”

Kari clicked through a couple screens before scrolling to the bottom and pointing again.

“See that? That’s how many pages of stories there are about you and Rose.”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “There are almost 700 pages! How many stories per page?”

“About ten.” She continued narrowing the search down, intentionally blocking the screen from him. Satisfied, she leaned back. “There, that should do it.”

The Doctor frowned. “There are still nearly 400 pages.”

She smiled and patted his knee before using it as leverage to stand up.

“Happy reading. I’ll be somewhere far away from here if you need me.” She stopped just before closing the door and turned. “Oh, and Doctor? I don’t recommend changing the filters unless you’re prepared for true human depravity.”

Frowning, he leaned forward to pick up the computer, gently placing it on his legs.

“I don’t know what she’s going on about,” he mumbled. “It can’t be that bad.”

 

~*~&~*~

 

Searching out a cuppa and the Doctor, Rose ran into Kari in the kitchen. She looked up from the sandwich she was making and smiled.

“Hiya!”

Rose returned the smile. “Hiya. Where’ve you been? Haven’t seen you or the Doctor for hours.”

Kari’s eyebrows went up slightly in surprise.

“Hours? Really? I figured he would’ve tired of his…research by now.”

“Research?”

Kari sighed as she sat down. “He was still convinced I was hiding something from him when it came to you changing. I had to show him where I got the idea.”

Rose leaned against the counter, waiting for her tea to steep, and frowned.

“Where _did_ you get the idea from?”

Rose raised an inquisitive eyebrow as she watched Kari’s face, neck, and ears turn bright red, her eyes never leaving her plate.

“Do I want to know?”

Finally, Kari looked up as she leaned back in her chair and ran her hands down her face.

“ _Doctor Who_ fan fiction.”

“Right, and what’s that when it’s at home?”

“They’re stories written by fans and posted online. Quite a few just fill in gaps between the shows; others, however…”

Rose took her mug and slipped into the chair across from Kari. Leaning back, she took a sip as she studied her friend. She’d never seen her so…uncomfortable. Embarrassed, even. She gave her a comforting smile.

“Kari, whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that. Just tell me.”

Kari took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, her eyes finally meeting Rose’s.

“Others change the course of how the show went in various ways; they’re called Alternative Universes. It’s in these stories that I got the idea that there were side-effects to you absorbing the Time Vortex.”

Rose nodded, still trying to figure out why Kari was so reluctant to talk about these stories. They seemed relatively harmless. She tilted her head to the side. “What does this have to do with where the Doctor is?”

“I left him in the library with my laptop and a rather lengthy list of stories to read through. Even so, I figured he’d be done by now, which is what worries me.”

“Why are you worried? They don’t seem that bad to me. The concept is a bit silly, but nothing to be concerned about.”

Kari scrubbed her hands down her face, almost like she was trying to wipe the blush away.

“Rose, fans can have a very…interesting idea of what should happen between various characters.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Interesting? How interesting?”

Kari’s eyes darted away as she worried her bottom lip. “Three-way sex between you, the Doctor, and Jack interesting.”

Coughing and spluttering on her tea, Rose barely managed to set her mug down before it slipped out of her hands. Gripping the edge of the table, she leaned forward, eyes wide.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me.”

“And you left the Doctor alone with these stories?”

Kari’s eyes went wide as she shook her head rapidly. “Oh, God, no! I did everything I could to make sure he _didn’t_ see anything like that.” She deflated slightly. “But you know how he is, Rose. If he somehow felt like he wasn’t getting the information he was seeking, or he just plain got curious, nothing is stopping him from finding them.”

Rose slumped back in her chair, her eyes glazing over as she stared at the wall behind Kari, absently sipping what was left of her tea. Her eyes slowly came into focus as something occurred to her. She turned to look at the woman across from her. She tried to keep her voice low and calm and devoid of the horror that was gradually rising in her.

“Kari, have you written any of those kind of stories?”

“What? No! I’ve never written any fan fiction, let alone _that_ kind.”

Rose nodded, looking away again at the wall. “Good, that’s good.”

“Doesn’t mean I haven’t _read_ them…” Kari mumbled as she fidgeted with the hem on her shirt.

Rose slowly looked back at her friend and watched her for a moment. _That’s_ what had been bothering her? She was embarrassed that she’d read what was essentially porn about them. A smile started to tug at the corners of Rose’s mouth before it turned into a full on smile. Before long, a laugh was burbling out of her and she was doubled over in hysterics. Kari stared at her, baffled.

“Laughing at me doesn’t make me feel any better about it, Rose.”

Rose shook her head as she tried to catch her breath. Laughter subsiding, she wiped away tears.

“I’m not laughing at you, Kari, though this is damn funny.”

Kari crossed her arms across her chest, defensive. “Not helping.”

Rose smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I was having a hard time figuring out why you were so embarrassed about telling me about fan fiction. At first, I was bit horrified when I thought you’d actually written some of the more creative stuff. When that subsided, I realized it was because you actually know us now. Must be pretty awkward.”

Kari rolled her eyes. “You have no idea. And I left Mister Curiosity alone, with my laptop, with thousands of stories for him to stumble upon.”

Movement at the door caught Rose’s eye. Looking up, she bit back a laugh at the sight of the Doctor’s glazed over look as he absently made his way to the stove and turned the kettle on. Turning in her chair, she watched as he leaned back against the counter and stared blankly at the wall before his eyes focused on Kari, his face showing a mix of shock, awe, horror, and disgust.

“What is wrong with you people?”

Kari groaned, shaking her head as her face fell into her hands.

“I told you not to change the settings.”

He pushed off the counter and walked toward her slowly, his eyes never leaving her as he spoke to Rose.

“Did she tell you what she subjected me to, Rose? What perverse horrors humans in your time pass off as ‘good story telling’?”

She took a deep breath as she continued to maintain her composure.

“Yes, she told me. And she also told you not to change settings.”

He stopped his stalking, his head snapping to look at Rose.

“I didn’t have to! Third story I read had multiple explicit sex scenes. And by explicit, I mean describing…parts in graphic detail. Yours and mine.” He shuddered. “And don’t even get me started on the atrocious grammar and spelling.”

Kari cringed. “Sorry. It must not have had the proper warnings. I tried to filter out all of those kinds of stories.”

The Doctor’s eyes grew huge as he focused on Kari again. “You _knew_ such dreck was out there? Why didn’t you warn me? Better yet, why did you make me read it?”

Rose’s breath caught in her throat as her eyes darted to Kari. She watched as embarrassment was replaced by anger. He really knew how to push her buttons.

Kari slowly stood up, her head down as she braced herself on the table, breath slow and her voice low.

“I didn’t _make_ you do a damn thing.” Her head rose slightly so she could glare at him, her eyes full of fire. “ _You_ were convinced I was hiding something from you; that I knew more than I was telling. _You_ wouldn’t just accept that maybe — just maybe — I had simply been more observant. I gave you all the information you needed to draw a conclusion and that wasn’t enough. So I reluctantly showed you where I’d gotten the glue to put the pieces together with. It is not _my fucking fault_ that you can’t handle the imaginations of the fans. One would think you wouldn’t be that surprised considering how long you’ve been traveling with humans.”

Shoving off the table, she spun on her heel, staggering slightly, and stormed out of the kitchen. Rose watched after her for a moment before turning toward the Doctor. His jaw was slack as he continued to stand in the middle of the room, staring at the empty space Kari had just occupied.

Rose took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. Stepping forward, she carefully placed a hand on the Doctor’s arm, causing him to look at her, his eyes glazed. He smiled sheepishly.

“I deserved that, didn’t I?”

She smiled. “’Fraid so. Give her time to cool off before even thinking about apologizing.” She gently led him to the chair she’d vacated. “Sit. I’ll make you a cuppa and we’ll talk about what you read.”


	3. Epilogue

The Doctor stopped in front of Kari’s door, took a deep breath and blew it out slowly before knocking lightly.

“Come in.”

Hesitating briefly, he steeled himself before opening the door, hesitating again before actually walking in.

He rarely went into his companions’ rooms. They were places of solitude; a place for them to escape from the monsters, death, and destruction. Right now, he figured he was under the ‘monster’ category.

Eyes casting about, they landed on the back of Kari’s head as she lounged on a chair overlooking the landscape the TARDIS had created for her. Well, her and her cat.

Slowly, he approached and took the chair next to her. Leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees, he stared out over the landscape. As he understood it, it was fashioned after the area she’d grown up in, which seemed to be high desert. It appeared to be late spring: flowers were blooming, the grass was a brilliant green, birds chirped and flitted among the pine and fir trees. Breathing in deep, his eyes slid closed and he smiled; he could understand why she found comfort in this setting.

They sat in tense silence for a while, neither wanting to be the first to speak. Leaning back in his chair, the Doctor opened his eyes and folded his hands over his stomach.

“You were right.”

“I generally am. Care to clarify what about this time?”

He cringed at the bitterness in her voice. He turned his head toward her, watching as her hand gently and methodically stroked down Paxton’s back, from head to tail, before repeating the motion.

“I shouldn’t have been surprised by the content of those stories. I have traveled with Jack, after all.” He laughed tightly, hoping to elicit a reaction from her. She continued to stare ahead of her, seeming to focus on a particular tree in the distance. He cleared his throat as he looked back out over the garden. “Anyway, it was just a bit of a shock. I’m still not at ease with all the other forms of media in which my life is broadcast. Knowing there are people out there that not only think about me doing… _that_ , but feel the need to write about it in great detail is incredibly disturbing.”

With a deep sigh, she finally turned to look at him.

“I tried to warn you, Doctor. I did. I knew that if I explicitly told you about the sex and God-knows what else you read, you wouldn’t take any of it seriously.” She gave a short laugh as she looked back toward the tree line. “Not that you should take any of it seriously. It is fiction, after all. But, you were so sure I was hiding something from you, I had to do something to convince you otherwise.”

He pulled on his ear, a blush creeping up his neck. “Yeah, about that.” He turned to look at her again, smiling slightly when she actually turned to meet his gaze. “I’m sorry. I should’ve believed you. But it was too hard for me to admit that I’d missed so much about Rose.”

Kari returned his smile and nodded. “I know, Doctor. I also know that it’s incredibly unnerving having your life spread across so many mediums. That’s why I was so reluctant to show you any of it.”

He nodded as he gazed over the garden. Curious, a slight frown formed. “Kari?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“Have… Have you ever _written_ fan fiction?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

“Just read it.”

“Yup.”

“Including the explicit stuff?”

“Yup.”

He wrinkled his nose up in slight disgust. “Why?”

Smiling slightly, she didn’t answer as she continued to pet her cat and watch the birds among the trees. Perhaps it was better that he didn’t know.


End file.
